Exploring Soho!

The other day my friend Kristy and I decided to really explore Soho. When my friends lived around there last summer, I had been in the neighborhood a few times, but I knew NOTHING about NYC back then. Now that I have a better grasp of the city I wanted to really explore it!

Such a cute area!

We decided to meet there and grab a bite to eat, then walk around and shop. I absolutely LOVED it! The neighborhood is definitely one of my favorite in New York - I could really see myself living there in a few years.

The outside seating area of Soho Park (courtesy oyster.com)

Obviously we had to get food while we were there, so we went to this place Soho Park - it was GREAT! They have outdoor and indoor seating, you order your food at the register and then they bring it to you. Very efficient, and the food was REALLY good! I was bad and got the french fries - they came with 2 different dipping sauces (there's a list of I believe around 6). Ahhh I was in heaven!

After stuffing our faces, we walked around and went into a few stores. I had heard great things about shopping in Soho so I had pretty high expectations, and actually being able to experience it was amazing. Unfortunately I didn't end up buying anything - needed to hold onto the little money I had that day. But I think I want to go back soon and do some good quality shopping!

A great day in a great New York neighborhood. I love living in this city!

<3, Charlotte

I like him :)

Alright, I promised an update about the guy that I saw on Saturday night (I mean, the whole thing made it to the peak of my week - there's some good stuff there!). Here it is:

I went to get drinks with Kristy and Chloe before going out. Our friend had bought a table at a club in Midtown, so we wanted to drink a little beforehand. The guy that I was going to meet up with was going out in Murray Hill that night, so we wanted to stop by and say hi for a few minutes and then head to the other club. (For all I knew, this guy could be a total WEIRDO! I hadn't seen him in over 2 months and I had no idea what his deal was.)

He texted me that they were at Joshua Tree (known to be the DOUCHIEST bar in
the neighborhoodall of Manhattan). I didn't know what to expect. We go into the bar and I saw him from a distance. I didn't really know what to do - should I just go up and say hi? Should I take 10 shots beforehand? I was having a slight mental breakdown.

Where the magic happened...Joshua Tree.

Kristy and Chloe went to the bathroom to give me time to say an initial "hello" and kinda scope out the situation. I decided to just go for it.

I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around and I gave a little "hey!". A grin spread across his face and he gave me a hug. We started talking and literally didn't stop the entire night (aside from when we were dancing, of course ;)). It worked out well because Kristy and Chloe hung out with his friends that were at the bar too - Kristy ended up staying out with them until 4am! I feel bad, we didn't go to our friend's table at the club, but this was definitely a better decision.

Anyway, he was just like I remembered him. But better. Literally so so so nice and incredibly fun - I can't believe that it took us this long to meet again! And today Chloe told me that all of his friends kept telling her how nice he was and how he was such a good guy (I would call bullshit on that, but he went to high school with one of my friends from college who said literally the EXACT SAME THING about him).

Obviously he ended up coming back to my apartment and staying the night (sparing some details here :)). I wasn't sure if that was all he was looking for though. I've said this before, but I really don't want something serious right now in my life. So even if he only wanted something for that night, I would be okay with that - I had A LOT of fun.

But yesterday afternoon (he left my place in the morning to go home to Jersey to go to church), he texted me asking how my day was. AND we talked all day today. We both told each other how we don't really like texting, so that's a pretty big deal for both of us.

Soooo yea. He is great. I am so happy with the situation right now - for now I don't want it to get too serious, especially us being so young and just entering the real world. But there is definitely something awesome there between us. I don't want to let this go, at least for the moment. :)

Could I use ANY MORE smileys in this post? :)

<3, Charlotte

Girls' night out

See?! It looks SUPER tiny when you walk up to it!

I get incredibly happy when my friends from different groups meet and get along great! This is what has happened with Kristy and Chloe. I've brought them together multiple times and they love each other! It makes me so happy that everyone can hang out and we all have a great time. :)

Last night, we decided to have a classy girls' night out. This was partially because we haven't done that yet since being in NYC and partially because we were all too hungover yesterday and wanted to keep it more tame last night. Kristy made reservations at 9 at Sotto 13, located in the West Village on 13th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue. Her friend Kelly was coming with us too (I'd met her before and LOVEDDD her so even more reason this night was going to be great!).

Walking up, the restaurant looks so minimal and tiny - I didn't know what to expect. However, when you get inside, you go to a big room in the back and it is SUPER trendy. Tall ceilings, mood lighting, high-top elegant tables. It was beautiful!

Inside!

Because OBVI us girls are always watching our figures, we got a few little plates to share with the table - I absolutely DEVOURED the brussels sprouts. They were AMAZING (and I'd like to think healthy, too). Also, the Summer Sangria at Sotto 13 is TO DIE FOR. We got one pitcher and decided that that would be our main drink for the night. Several pitchers later and we were giddy and happy as could be. Definitely made the right call on that one.

It was suchh a fun night! We felt so classy and grown up. So New York!

Definitely one of my favorite trendy food places in NYC! What a good time.

<3, Charlotte

Yoga, chocolate, and wine anyone?

Yoga + Wine = AMAZING

My friend Kristy had a work event at a yoga studio - they were going to do yoga and sample wine and chocolate. Her bosses both couldn't make it so she invited me to come along. OBVI I wasn't going to say no to that.

It honestly just shows you how crazy your days can be when you enter the real world. I mean, THANK GOODNESS I wore a comfortable dress with leggings to work today or I wouldn't be dressed and ready to do some yoga!

We got there and the yoga was great - I had only done hot yoga before so this was much more enjoyable. And then after we sampled a bunch of chocolate by the company that the yoga instructor's friend had founded. A glass of wine went with each specific chocolate. It was an amazing night. Most relaxing yoga session I had ever been to if I do say so myself!

So yea, that's what I'm home from now. A little tipsy not going to lie. But today was a very, very good day. :)

PS - I may have a new boyyyy!! Updates possibly to come, haven't decided if he's worth writing about yet...

<3, Charlotte

Central Park Zoo

Seal show! (No I did not take this picture.
I actually forgot to take any pictures when we were in the zoo. Fail!)

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I needed to stop being a lazy bum when I'm in NYC on Sundays. And today, that actually happened!

I went to Central Park Zoo!

Kristy's mom was in for the weekend, so she took us there and also out to eat today. My oh my, these free opportunities were EXACTLY what I needed to close out my weekend.

We started out the day by going to brunch at the best place - Lexington Brass. It was decently priced and SO YUMMY. I got pancakes and it was probably the best decision I made all week. (Sidenote: idk why but for some reason I love having pancakes with only butter, no syrup. I personally think that's kinda weird, but it tastes AMAZING I could eat over 100 pancakes like that! Probably not but you know what I mean)

After brunch, we headed over to the Central Park Zoo. It was smaller than I thought it was going to be (I had a work event in a section of it a few weeks ago, so I was really excited to see the rest of it!). But the size was actually PERFECT since I had done so much walking that day to meet up with them. Not taking the subway to a lot of places does have a decent amount of health benefits! Probably the most eventful part of our zoo excursion was the bird room. For some reason, the zoo thinks it is a good idea to let the birds fly ALL OVER THE PLACE and have no enclosings to keep them in. HOW TERRIFYING but we made it through it! Not gonna lie, I was pretty proud of myself for walking through the entire room.

What a fun, productive day! So New York!

<3, Charlotte

Back to college for the weekend!

Things didn't get QUITE as crazy as this as the parties I was at.
But how cool would it be if they did?!

Last weekend I went back to college. Except it was a jillion times BETTER. School in DC was very different than a Big 10 school, which is where my work friend Kristy attended college. The school was having an alumni weekend, and I was totally thrilled when she asked me if I wanted to see what a Big 10 school was like. Even though my college friends were FINALLY living in New York for the first time since I've lived here, I couldn't pass up this opportunity.

Was I ever glad that I went! Because we had to work on Friday night, we took an EARLY bus to the school on Saturday morning. And by early, I mean I had to wake up at 4am to start getting ready (hey, a girl's gotta look nice when she's meeting crazy college boys!). Yes, I had to sacrifice my Friday night, but it was WELL WORTH IT.

We got to the school at around noon and IMMEDIATELY started drinking. Between the house parties that were overcrowded with people to everyone getting to the bar by NINE-THIRTY that night, I couldn't believe that some people were smart enough to attend such a fun school! I got to meet Kristy's best friend (they have a relationship similar to mine and James'. Guy besties are the shit, OBVI) and two of his friends were TOTALLY macking on me during one of the house parties we were at. Sidenote: one was a COMPLETE WEIRDO but one was actually really cute and funny. 

The bar we went to that night, as I mentioned before, was super packed super early. And it was amazing. Probably one of the best DJ's I've ever heard - every song was the type of song that the entire room was screaming all the words on the top of their lungs to. Fun fun FUN weekend!

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the college I went to, plus the education was very good. And I really liked being in the city. But there's just this little part of me that got 4 years of FOMO when I was at the Big 10 school this past weekend. That could have been every weekend of my college career...

Here's to thinking of what could have been,

<3, Charlotte

Places a baby doesn't belong: at a beer garden

This weekend, I went down to the Financial District (my first time there!) to Beekman Beer Garden. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Sure, the beers were a little pricy ($8 for Blue Moon is pretty steep in my own opinion. I'm not Rockefeller!) but the views were amazing. And I met a bunch of Kristy's friends - it's great to be meeting so many new people that live in NYC!

I was probably 1.5 beers deep (keep in mind, I get drunk VERY easily) when I look up and see the last thing I would ever imagine - a mother with her baby.

Yup, this is the kid. Looking right at me

Now, I'm not trying to tell anyone how to raise their kids. I'm 22 years old - I don't know SQUAT.

But I think I DO know that that is probably one of the worst parenting jobs I have ever seen! However, as a very sheltered child, I can say that that kid will probably grow up to be insanely cool. Kinda jealous.


Still don't know how I feel about it...

<3, Charlotte

My first drunk post

Okay, so obviously the title explains it all. I am in between my office happy hour and going out for the night. Basically, NYC is amazing. My company is amazing. I love life. I'm pretty drunk right now. Actually, correction, I'm pretty WASTED.

On a completely separate sidenote though: me and my work friend Kristy are trying to find guys at every bar we go to that can buy us drinks. We REALLY want to find an in to the crazy New York socialite scene. (OMG it would be totally cool to be an A list socialite and be able to go to all the cool parties but not have to deal with all the crap that comes with fame.)

ALSO I can see the recommended tags that wordpress is telling me to write on this post: "driving under the influence" "alcohol intoxication" "national highway traffic safety administration" "kate moss" WTF IS GOING ON HERE?

Okay, I think that means this is enough for this post. I will be on tomorrow for more real updates and hope everyone has a great night!

HAVE FUN! YAYY ITS THE WEEKEND!

<3, Charlotte

PS: sorry about this. I'll probably regret it in the morning. YOLO?